Khabib Nurmagomedov spawned plenty of memes when he asked Conor McGregor to “Send me location.”
Now, MMA fans are asking UFC President Dana White the same as he claims UFC lightweight champion Khabib’s fight with Tony Ferguson will go ahead as planned at UFC 249 on 18th April.
Dana White tells Kevin Iole that Khabib/Ferguson is still happening on April 18. pic.twitter.com/nDC3GNcwbn
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) March 23, 2020
That’s despite countries across the world shutting down public life in an effort to slow the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in their respective lands.
Despite White’s confidence in the fight coming to fruition as originally scheduled, he has not revealed where it will be held. However, he did confirm that the fight will be behind closed doors as you’d expect given the current world health crisis.
“I do [know where it is],” White told Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole during an Instagram Live interview. “But I’m not ready to tell you yet. I know lots of things. There’s not going to be any fans there. It’s going to be a closed event.”
UFC 249 was originally scheduled to take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. However, the New York State Athletic Commission officially cancelled those plans last week.
The UFC has been forced to cancel three events in the lead-up to their UFC 249 showpiece, including cards in London, Portland and Columbus.
White says the decision hasn’t been taken lightly as the UFC considers all the precautions required to keep fighters, staff and officials safe during such times.
“Everybody who is going to be involved in this thing is going to be because they want to be, not because they have to be or they have to do anything,” White said. “Believe me, we didn’t just start thinking about safety when the coronavirus popped up.
“Health and safety, these are things that normal businesses that are out there right now don’t necessarily have to think about on a daily basis. Healthy and safety is something we’ve been doing long before the coronavirus and we’ll be doing it long after the coronavirus is gone. This is just normal s**t for us.”
This, of course the fifth time a fight has been booked between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson. The long-anticipated fight has been nixed for various reasons, including freak knee injuries, lung issues and failed weight cuts.
Will it be fifth time lucky for Nurmagomedov, Ferguson and White? The latter appears confident.